The New Student's Reference Work/Valentinian III

Valentinian III, grandson of Theodosius the Great, was declared Emperor of the West in 425 A. D. His reign of 30 years was a period of great and terrible events, associated with the names of Attila, Genseric and Ætius, "the last of the Romans." Valentinian's usual residence was at Ravenna; but he fled to Rome in 452 on the approach of Attila, who, after ravaging Italy, died in the following year. In 454 Ætius, who had won the great victory over Attila at Chalons in 451, and who alone could have saved Rome from the destruction which hung over her, was treacherously murdered by Valentinian; and the next year the crime was avenged by the murder of the emperor himself while he was viewing some games in the Campus Martius. With the death of Valentinian the family of Theodosius became extinct.